Automatic Sequence Enforcement

I am finding TD to be a great task list manager. I especially like the several ways that exist to characterize a task, and the ability to use subtasks.

I have one feature request, which would I believe enhance Toodledo's project management usefulness (certainly for me). Often the length of a task is not easy to predict precisely. It may take days or weeks to complete Task A. Task B may be dependant on Task A as a precedent. When I complete Task A, I now have to change the start date of Task B to the date when I am actually able to start it.

The functionality I am looking for would have the start date of task B capable of being linked to the Completion date of task A. Now, I have never seen Completion date (i.e., the date task is marked done) in my views of TD -- however I am sure it must exist internally (if not, why not)? By specifying that Task B's start date is linked to Task A's completion date (when it is marked done), the former's start date would be accurate. Due date would also be calculated by adding the specified length of Task B to the start date.

Thanks again for a great product, and I look forward to reading your comments.

Note that the dependency of one task on another might be a serialization dependency (ie. task B starts when task A finishes) or a parallel dependency (ie. task B starts when task A starts). You should take both dependencies into account.

I supposed a third option might be a delayed dependency. That is, task B might start after some delay when triggered by task A.

I would like to take this one step further - I would like to have "relational" due dates on templates. I know that it is possible to set up template tasks with subtasks, but it would be nice to be able to have the system automatically fill in due dates. For example, if my template is for "plan a trip" and I know that 30 days before the trip I have to do x, 10 days before I have to do y, the day before I have to do z, the day of, I have to do 10 things, teh next day 5, then a week later submit expense report, etc., I'd like to be able to copy my trip template task, put the date of the trip in teh task, and then have the system fill in the dates of all the subtasks automatically.

I know this sounds odd, but there was a program for the Palm that did this, and I miss it terribly!

On my TODO list, I have a task to create a script to solve this problem. Wondering if anyone thinks it's a good idea. Also, does Toodledo think it's a good idea? :-)

Using toodledo API, I would download tasks every few minutes and look for active parent tasks, which do not have a "Next Action" subtask. (I use parent tasks as projects.) If none exists, I create a new starred subtask of this parent that says, "Select Next Action". The task would have a configured context (whichever context you usually use toodledo in; phone for me) and have a star attached to it.

Next time you are in the right context, you'll see the task, go to the parent, select the new child. This would solve so many problems for me! Is anyone interested in using something like this? If so, I'll generalize it. Otherwise, I won't bother.

+1 for this- i would like to create a template of a series of tasks, all from a relative start date, with dependencies. When i copy and paste the template end change the name from template to project and set the start date, tasks, assignments, and due dates are set up relative to the new start.

+1 as well. I want to be able to record everything I need to do with dependencies so that I (or whoever is doing the initial tasks) don't forget to add them later, or so that I don't have to look for them to change their status after the first one is done. For instance, "to go post office" becomes active after "package up boxes" is complete.

Going the manual route is what forced me to start looking at other task management tools in the first place. Toodledo is the closest thing I've found but I need to have task dependency. Ultimately I would like to see it automatically pull the next task off of my projects when I complete a previous task. I could probably write a little applet using the API to do that, but without native support for dependencies I'm going to end up putting a big bandaid in place.

I know that it is not policy to share roadmaps/futures, but I also know that I've seen posts from as long as 2 years ago that mention that task dependency is on your to-do list. Could you at least maybe share if it's on your current @work context or if it's just one of those "someday/maybe" kind of things? :)